Caring for someone at home comes with a lot to remember: what the cuff said this morning, which pill changed last week, the pharmacy's phone number, the question you meant to ask at the last visit. AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving count 63 million family caregivers in the United States, nearly 1 in 4 adults. In many families, one of them is also the person who keeps the records.
A few printed forms, kept in one place, hold those records so that anyone who steps in (a sibling, a neighbor, a home aide, the person themselves) can read them.
The forms family caregivers use
| Form | What is on it | Who reads it |
|---|---|---|
| Blood pressure log | Date, time, the top and bottom numbers and the pulse for each home reading, with room for notes | The doctor or nurse who asked for home readings |
| Medication list | Every medicine, vitamin and supplement taken now, with the strength, the dose, the times, the reason and who prescribed it | Every doctor, the pharmacist, the hospital, a new aide |
| Daily medication log | A line for each medicine at each time of day, and a box for each day of the week to tick or initial | Whoever gives the next dose, and the family at the end of the week |
| Daily care log | Meals and drinks, medicines given, toilet, washing and dressing, mood, sleep and notes, one page a day | The next person on duty |
| Emergency information sheet | Conditions, allergies, doctors, the pharmacy, who to call and how the person communicates, on one page | Paramedics, the emergency room, a visiting relative |
| About me page | What matters to the person, how they communicate, what upsets them and what helps | Hospital staff, respite carers, new aides |
| Doctor visit pages | Changes since the last visit, questions to ask, notes and what was decided | The caregiver at the next visit |
| Phone list | Family, friends, doctors and services, in large print | Anyone in the house |
We have free printables for six of them: a large-print blood pressure log, a large-print medication list, one week of the daily log with our guide to keeping a daily medication log, a page of the daily care log with our guide to keeping a daily caregiver log, a one-page emergency information sheet for the fridge, and a page of questions to ask your doctor. The others are pages of our Caregiver Binder.
What to keep in a caregiver binder: a checklist
A caregiver binder (some families call it a medical binder or a care notebook) is a ring binder with these pages in it. Use the list below as a checklist and tick what you have.
- The current medication list, dated, with a spare copy in the front pocket for appointments.
- Allergies, written on the medication list and on the emergency sheet.
- This week's daily medication log, if more than one person gives doses.
- Home blood pressure pages, if the doctor asked for home readings, newest week on top.
- The emergency information sheet, with a second copy on the fridge. Our guide explains where the sheet goes and how the Vial of Life and File of Life programs work.
- The phone list: doctors, pharmacy, family, neighbors, home care and transport.
- Notes from the last doctor visit and the questions for the next one.
- The about me page, for a hospital stay or a new aide.
- Copies of insurance and ID cards, front and back.
- A pen, clipped to the binder so it never has to be found.
The FDA's own medication form says to share the record at every visit, to keep a printed copy with you and to give a copy to a friend or loved one. A binder that goes to every appointment covers the first; a copy in a wallet and one with a family member cover the other two. The National Institute on Aging also publishes free worksheets for talking with the doctor, including one for tracking medications, and they fit the same binder.
How to set up a caregiver binder
- Pick a binder with a clear front cover and an inside pocket. A 1 inch ring binder is enough to start.
- Add tab dividers, one for each kind of form: medicines, blood pressure, daily care, visits, contacts.
- Print the forms at "Actual size", and fill in the ones that rarely change (phone list, about me, emergency sheet) first.
- Put the current medication list in a sheet protector at the front, with the date it was last checked.
- Keep the binder in the same place every day, near where care happens, and tell everyone who helps where it is.
- Take it to every appointment and to the hospital. MedlinePlus suggests bringing the medicine list to a hospital stay.
- Date every change. When a medicine starts or stops, write the date and your initials, and start a new list when the old one gets crowded.
Who fills in the forms when several people help?
When a parent's care is shared between siblings, a partner and an aide, the forms work best with one simple habit: whoever does something writes it down, with the time and their initials. A daily caregiver log is the page for that: one day on a page, read at each handover. Agree on one person who updates the medication list after each appointment, so there is only ever one current copy. Everyone else reads it and adds to the logs.
If the person you care for can still write, ask them to fill in what they can. These are their records first.
What these forms are not
They are blank pages that hold what you write. They do not say what a reading means, whether a medicine or dose is right, or when to call for help: that is for the person's own doctor, nurse or pharmacist. A blood pressure log has a line for the target their doctor set, if they have one, and nothing else about numbers.
When the person you care for finds talking hard
Some of the people families care for can't always say what they need or how they feel, after a stroke, with aphasia or with dementia. Our communication boards for adults are picture boards to point to, and our dementia and memory pages have a large-print daily schedule and conversation cards. Both sit well in the same binder.
Guides and free printables
Free printable
Free large-print blood pressure logOne week on a page, a morning and an evening row each day, and a line for the target your doctor set.
Free printable
Free large-print medication listOne large-print page for seven medicines, with the dose, when to take it, what it is for and who prescribed it.
Guide
How to keep a daily medication logWhat a medication log is, how it differs from a list, and how to set one up for the week at home.
Guide
Emergency information sheet for the fridgeWhat goes on the sheet, where it lives, how Vial of Life and File of Life work, and how to keep it current.
Guide
Questions to ask your doctorQuestions to take to a visit, for yourself or for someone you care for, and a free large-print page to write them on.
Guide
How to keep a daily caregiver logWhat a care log records, how it carries the day from one carer to the next, and what to take to appointments.
Frequently asked questions
What should be in a caregiver binder?
Start with the current medication list, allergies, an emergency information sheet, a phone list, home blood pressure pages if the doctor asked for them, notes from doctor visits and copies of insurance cards. Add a daily care log when more than one person helps.
Which caregiver form should I start with?
The medication list. It is the page asked for at doctor visits, at the pharmacy counter and in the hospital, and a daily medication log is copied from it. Add the blood pressure log when the person's doctor asks for home readings.
Are caregiver forms medical records?
No. They are the family's own notes, kept alongside the records the doctor's office and the pharmacy keep. Bring them to visits: the FDA's medicine form says to share the record at all visits.
Can I fill in the forms on a computer?
Yes. Our free blood pressure log, medication list and medication log have fill-in fields you can type into before you print, in the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can also print them blank and write by hand.
Where should I keep the binder?
In the same place every day, near where care happens, such as a kitchen shelf. You can also keep the emergency sheet on the fridge and a copy of the medication list in a wallet or purse, as the National Institute on Aging suggests for the list.
Sources
We opened and checked every link on October 5, 2026.
- New Report Reveals Crisis Point for America's 63 million Family Caregivers (Caregiving in the U.S. 2025), AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving. 63 million Americans, nearly 1 in 4 adults, provided ongoing care for an adult or a child with a complex medical condition or a disability in the past year.
- My Medicine Record (PDF), U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Enter all prescription and over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements; share the record at all visits; keep a printed copy with you and give a copy to a friend or loved one; update it when anything changes.
- Taking Medicines Safely as You Age, National Institute on Aging. Write down all medicines, including over-the-counter drugs, vitamins and supplements, with the amount, the times, the prescriber and the reason; keep one copy at home and one in a wallet or purse.
- Taking multiple medicines safely, MedlinePlus (National Library of Medicine). Keep a list of all medicines, give every provider a copy, and bring the list to a hospital stay.
- Measuring Your Blood Pressure, CDC. Use a blood pressure log to record home readings, take readings at the same time every day, and talk with the health care team about how often to measure.
- Talking With Your Doctor Worksheets, National Institute on Aging. Free worksheets for questions, family and medical history, and tracking medicines.
An educational support tool. Not a substitute for evaluation or treatment by a licensed speech-language pathologist or physician. Read the full disclaimer.